Meowstic, The Constraint Pokémon. When in danger, it raises its ears and releases enough psychic power to grind a 10-ton truck into dust. The eyeball patterns on the interior of its ears emit psychic energy. It keeps the patterns tightly covered because that power is too immense.

Overview

Meowstic is an interesting Pokémon having different forms based on the gender, which ultimately results in two drastically different movepools. However, unlike other gender-based families such as Nidoran family or Volbeat and Illumise, Meowstic shares stats with both forms only differing in a single ability. Competitive is the female form's special ability, allowing it to get a free boost from Pokémon with abilities such as Intimidate or counter Defog, while the male form has access to Prankster to aid its utility role. However, neither form really stands out as both are frail Pokémon with middling offenses and struggle to set themselves apart from other Psychic-types such as Exeggutor and Mesprit. The male form ends up being more unique due to Prankster utility, but at the end of the day they end up being mostly gimmicky Pokémon.
Positives
Abilities - While each form has one good ability, both of the abilities are great. Female Meowstic has access to Competitive allowing it to function similar to Bisharp in Smogon OU, switching into Defog for a free Nasty Plot and attempting to sweep. Male Meowstic has access to Prankster and a plethora of supporting moves which makes a nice niche for it that only Liepard can encroach upon.

Negatives
Stats - Their shared 104 base Speed is decent, and an argument can be made for Meowstic's low Attack being good for taking less damage from Foul Play, but all of the other stats are just not enough. For Meowstic Female, 83 base Special Attack isn't a lot and makes getting the Competitive buff needed to do much of anything. Meowstic Male on the other hand lacks recovery and the defenses to stay around to harry the opponent's team.

Abilities

Keen Eye - Prevents accuracy drop - Not a good ability competitively as most accuracy drop moves are banned in some formats, but it can have its uses in-game and in VGC.
Infiltrator - Ignores Substitute, Light Screen, Reflect, Aurora Veil, Safeguard - Interesting ability on a Pokémon that can really exert pressure and it can be useful in special situations. Varies on use based on the form but unfortunately Meowstic doesn't really exert heavy pressure in most formats.
Competitive (Meowstic Female) - Raises Special Attack by 2 Stages if any stat is dropped - This is great overall and can help Meowstic-F sweep, butit requires the opponent to uses something and thus is situational.
Prankster (Meowstic Male) - Gives non damaging move +1 priority - While not as strong as it used to be due to Dark-types gaining immunity to it, Prankster is still fantastic with Meowstic's good Speed. Being able to utilize status moves with extra priority definitely grants it some extra utility that few Pokémon have.

Psyshock is the main STAB of the set and helps prevent Meowstic Female from being walled by special walls. Signal Beam has awkward base power but it is nice secondary coverage hitting the Dark- and Psychic-types that would wall Meowstic-F otherwise, and it notably pressures Exeggutor really hard. Finally, Hidden Power Ground allows Meowstic to at least hurt Skuntank who is one of the best Defoggers that would otherwise wall it. Calm Mind is recommended so Meowstic isn't dead weight if there isn't a Defog thrown at it.
A Timid nature is preferred to take full advantage of Meowstic's great Speed, while maximum investment in Special Attack and Speed is straightforward. Life Orb boosts Meowstic's damage output which it desperately needs due to its middling offense otherwise. Competitive is also ideal to take advantage of Defog users and provides the best offensive boosts for Meowstic.

Other Options

Colbur Berry - This can be used over Life Orb so Meowstic can somewhat fight Skuntank, but the lack of power on a average Pokémon can really hurt.

With Prankster, Meowstic is an amazing Screener for aggressive and balanced teams. Light Clay helps prolong the duration of Light Screen and Reflect furthering Meowstic's utility. Yawn or Thunder Wave are nice support options, Yawn forces a switch while Thunder Wave makes it easier for sweepers or wall breakers to sweep. Yawn in particular can get very annoying if there's no Sleep Clause in effect. Finally, Psychic prevents Meowstic from being Taunt locked and helps actually beat a few threats such as Weezing and Hitmonchan.
Bold nature with maximum investment in physical bulk is preferred so that Meowstic can actually afford to take a few hits. With Prankster, Meowstic's Speed becomes less necessary so the extra bulk allows it to stick around longer so that it can provide more utility throughout the battle. However, shifting EVs from Defense to Speed and switching to Timid makes Meowstic a fast lead to set up screens that can cripple something with status moves before going down. This is most effective for a hyper offensive team, as the bulk is less useful since Meowstic won't need to stick around for long.

Other Options

Toxic - If you really need another way to cripple defensive foes, Toxic is always worthy of consideration. Meowstic ideally won't be the Pokémon you need for this, but it's always an option.
Assist - This is a gimmicky option that only works in a 3v3 setting with no Sleep Clause, as the idea is to run Substitute and Swagger alongside Ditto and a Spore user using 3 other moves that can't be called by Assist. The result is a +1 priority Spore from Meowstic which can quickly become annoying, but meta changes due to the Tapus make this even worse this gen.

VGC & Double Battle Options

Meowstic is typically not any good in Double Battles, but Prankster access means you can always get away with something if you're determined to make it work. This is implying we're talking about Male Meowstic, which is the only Meowstic worth any attention here since the Prankster utility is far more unique than anything Female Meowstic can accomplish. That being said Male Meowstic truthfully doesn't do much of anything that a stronger Prankster user such as Thundurus can't do better, but the silver lining here lies with some of its unique support moves such as Fake Out and Gravity. The latter deserves a special mention for being relevant in the current GS Cup format to ensure that Groudon is hitting Precipice Blades against anything it goes up against. However, Meowstic's awful stats are still a problem in Doubles, especially if you're considering it for a GS Cup format. Meowstic can't take more than one or two hits and that really limits the utility it can bring, and Dark-types being immune to Prankster limits its usefulness further. Prankster utility does give it some opportunities to do something, but unless you really need the combination of Fake Out, Gravity, and its Speed, Meowstic probably won't perform as well as you'd like.

Meowstic can do most of the same things any Prankster user can so it has a bit of room for variety, but Meowstic's unique traits are going to be the valuable ones in the end. Fake Out provides useful pressure for a stronger teammate and is generally good for disrupting the foe. Gravity ensures that Meowstic's allies are far more reliable at hitting, whether it's Mega Gengar Hypnosis or Groudon's Precipice Blades. Trick Room is particularly useful even though it still has very low priority, if only to shift speed tiers in your favor which, again, is helpful for Groudon. Helping Hand is another useful option though, allowing it to power up a foe's attack if Meowstic has nothing else to do that turn. Ally Switch is deceptively useful on Meowstic more so than on most Ally Switch users, since the extra priority can allow it to outspeed slower Fake Out users and otherwise outspeed any Extreme Speed user. Sunny Day is primarily listed if you use Meowstic in a traditional Doubles setting alongside Mega Charizard Y, so that you can maintain weather control. Alternatively you can run Psychic if you want Meowstic to contribute direct damage, but Meowstic is unlikely to have a meaningful impact there.

Bold nature with maximum physical bulk investment is taken so that Meowstic can actually take some hits, though running extra Speed can be taken if you really want Meowstic to Ally Switch before more Fake Out users. Eject Button is taken so that Meowstic can provide some support for a turn and quickly get switched out into a more offensive threat without giving up momentum. However, if you're trying to utilize Sunny Day then Heat Rock is worth consideration to help sun abusers take full advantage of the weather. Prankster needs no explanation, you aren't using Meowstic if you don't have Prankster.

Other Options

- Quick Guard can be useful to prevent opposing priority moves such as Fake Out and Extreme Speed, though this is heavily dependent on your preferences and there's more than enough suitable alternatives to combat priority moves.
- Light Clay with dual screens can provide some utility, but screens also face spread reduction in Doubles so they actually reduce damage by less than usual, making them difficult to justify.
- Yawn can be useful in GS Cup to force a switch, which can cost the opponent a lot of momentum. However, this is difficult to make room for in most cases and it can be even harder to find a time to utilize it.

Countering Meowstic

Dark Types - Dark types have a strong matchup against the Meowstic formes due to their low defenses and power. Ones such as Skuntank can just wall Meowstic and easily KO them while others such as Absol and Alolan Raticate can just Pursuit trap Meowstic. Additionally they are also immune to Prankster which makes Male Meowstic deadweight against them.

Locations in Games

Red/Blue/Yellow: Not in game.

Gold/Silver/Crystal: Not in game

Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald: Not in game

FireRed/LeafGreen: Not in game

Colosseum/XD: Not in game

Diamond/Pearl/Platinum: Not in game

HeartGold/SoulSilver: Not in game

Black/White: Not in game

Black 2/White 2: Not in game.

X/Y: Evolve Espurr.

Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire: Trade from X/Y.

Sun/Moon: Transfer from X & Y.

Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon: Transfer from X & Y

Let's Go, Pikachu!/Let's Go, Eevee!: Not in game.

Animé Appearences

Meowstic has made a few appearances in the anime, most notably when two were used by the Anistar City Gym Leader, Olympia.